


The Beast and the Prince

by yotsubanoclover



Category: Mystic Messenger
Genre: AU, AU Challenge, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blind V | Kim Jihyun, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Mentioned Rika (Mystic Messenger), Mentions of Blood, Non-Graphic Violence, POV V | Kim Jihyun, Princess - Freeform, Sad Ending, V | Kim Jihyun Lives, V | Kim Jihyun's Route, another universe, darling in the franxx, fairy tale, inspired by darling in the franxx, jihyun kim - Freeform, prince - Freeform, v - Freeform, v and rika
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 01:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16483889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yotsubanoclover/pseuds/yotsubanoclover
Summary: "Keep this in mind. No matter how you disguise yourself, you are a beast, and you will consume the Prince’s live one day."Rika is nothing but a borrowed name--a borrowed form. In reality she is the Beast Princess, who has fallen in love with a human Prince.Inspired from Darling in the FRANXX's Beast and the Prince story.





	The Beast and the Prince

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching Darling in the FRANXX and the story about The Beast and the Prince reminded me of V and Rika's relationship--this is my take on that. I wrote this for an AU Challenge I did with some friends! Enjoy :)

_ Keep this in mind. No matter how you disguise yourself, you are a beast, and you will consume the Prince’s live one day. _

Rika wakes up with excruciating pain on her back, her shrill cry breaking the silence of the night. She can feel V waking up next to her; however, shaking as much as she is now, she cannot even turn to look at him. Rika catches the glint of his mint-colored eyes before he takes her into his embrace, whispering calming, loving words over her bone-chilling cry.

“My love… you’re okay, you’re okay.” He repeats the word like a spell, his hand stroking her back.

But of course, his words are no spell; it does nothing to the intense pain torturing Rika on her back. As she continues to wail in pain, she thought she heard a sound, like her bones cracking. Something is attempting to come out from her back, she realizes, but whatever that is has stopped, the pain dissipating as minutes pass.  _ At least for now. _

“Rika… my love,” V sighs in relief, tightening his embrace. “You’re okay… you’re okay. It was only a nightmare. I’m here…”

Rika grips onto his shirt, her body still trembling in fear. “V… you promised me that you’ll bless me with love like the sun, didn’t you?”

“I did, Rika.”

“Then…” She forces herself to look up, right into his eyes. “Will you still love me even if I… even if I might hurt you?”

He strokes her cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb, as he stares back into her green eyes. “Of course… No matter what happens, I’ll always stay by your side and shed the light of my love upon you, tomorrow, and the days that follow… just like the sun.”

“But V…” Rika chokes on her fresh tears, her voice breaking. “Your love… might not be enough for my darkness.”

“Rika?”

“I just realized… that my darkness wouldn’t go away so easily.” She sobs into his chest. “Even now… it’s threatening to take over me… to take over my whole body and soul. I can feel it. Someday… this part of me will hurt you, to stop you from shedding your light upon me. I… I am not the person you think I am, V. I have darkness inside me -  _ I am darkness _ . 

“I thought… I thought with you, it might be possible; but no matter how I try to ignore it, someday my darkness will take over and engulf me in a whole. I will love… yet hate the sun.”

“Even so, Rika… I believe the love within you will outshine that darkness,” V insists; his voice is firm, yet he doesn’t pressure her..

“Is this alright, V? Do we  _ really _ love each other? Because I… I...” Her voice falters at the end of her sentence. She cannot tell him. She cannot bring herself to reveal the truth. It will be much too bizarre, too painful, for him to take in.

_ Because once he finds out, they might have to part ways for real. _

But before she can say anything else, V pushes his lips to hers, which only breaks Rika’s defenses. She continues to sob as their lips meet, melting together with her tears. She can feel how he’s trying his hardest to reassure her… to show her the certainty of his love… to make her understand his unfaltering beliefs that his love, which is bright, warm, and everlasting like the sun, can indeed outshine her darkness. That their love will conquer just about anything, even the bottomless pit that is her darkness.

Rika whispers to him as the kiss breaks away, “I love you… V. I want you to remember this. Even if I come to hate you, at least for this moment, I truly love you! Please… please remember that.”

“I love you, too, Rika. And I will continue to love you,” he tells her, leaning in for another kiss. “Forever… and ever.”

When V once again falls asleep, holding her in his arms, Rika carefully moves away from him. She lies on her side, watching him as he dozes off peacefully. In this position, the moonlight no longer reaches her side of the bed, where she now lies on. Instead, the moon’s gentle glimmer shines on V’s face, hair, and closed eyes, reminding her of the first time she watched him from afar.

It was on her sixteenth birthday, when she was finally able to fly outside the forest she lived in. And her name was not Rika - it was a human name she acquired in order to get close to him. Most of what she is now, in fact, is only of an acquired disguise. Especially her slender and tall body as a human girl. What truly belonged to her are her crystal-like green eyes… and her very soul, hidden inside her fake form.

Because she is actually the princess of a tribe of beasts who lived hidden from the human world. Unlike how most humans depict beasts, they are beautiful and have an appearance close to that of a human, save for their claws and fangs, the wings on their backs, as well as horns on either sides of their heads. Even so, the Princess was gifted from birth. Her skin is fairer, her hair longer and more beautiful than most. Her luminous ashen wings bigger and stronger. She loved her world and thought she would stay there forever until her time in this world was over. But  that didn’t stop her from being curious of the world outside.

When the day finally came, the Princess took flight to the world beyond the dark forests. With the light of the moon as her guide, she crossed steep mountains and surging rivers, reaching the land of humans. As she landed to rest her wings, she found herself in a castle garden, and that she was not alone. Standing on the balcony above her was a human man who was gazing at the bright moon. His mint-colored hair blew softly with the chilly wind, his whole figure bathing in the moonlight. Before she realized it, the Princess was unable to avert her gaze: love, an alien yet strangely familiar feeling, bloomed inside her heart.

She felt a wrenching pain on her chest as she realized that they are of a different race. A beast and a human could never be together, she cried silently. However, she couldn’t bring herself to give up; every night, she would come back to the garden, hiding herself in the bushes and within the shadows of the castle. Every night, she would always find him there, staring at the moon. She thought she would be satisfied with that alone, but she soon came to notice how he always looked so lonely, standing alone in the balcony. She realized she needed to find the reason behind that loneliness, as her love for him continued to grow.

Only then did she remember the existence of a witch in the same forest where she lived. The Princess told the witch her wish. "I want to live as a human. I want to be united with him."

The witch replied, her voice emotionless. "I can help you if you offer me your wings. But keep this in mind: no matter how you disguise yourself, you are a beast, and you will consume the prince's life one day."

Despite her warning, the Princess had made  up her mind; she wouldn’t mind losing everything, if that meant she could become one with the man, who turned out to be a prince, as she later found out. She ripped off her wings and was assaulted by pain far more intense than she had ever felt. Only then did it dawn to her that she could never fly again; she could never come back to her homeland. Even so, she smiled happily, tears of joy streaming down her face. 

"I'm human! I'm human!” she squealed, her voice clear as a melody. “I'm the same as him now!"

That was how Rika came to be. She approached the Prince and they fell in love. So naturally, so easily, as if it was fate. Prince Jihyun, or V, a nickname only she could use,  promised her that he would love her with the love of the sun. And she believed him - she really did.

But now… as she gets up and sees herself in the mirror, she isn’t as sure anymore. On her back are two bulges that weren’t there before. They are dark-colored, a color similar to her old, ripped wings. Rika then moves her hand to her bangs, and beneath her blonde locks are similar bulges on either sides of her foreheads. They have the color of her old horns, scarlet red, like that of blood.

The Witch’s warning comes back to her.  _ No matter how you disguise yourself, you are a beast, and you will consume the prince's life one day. _

_ Why?  _ She cries inside her heart.  _ I asked you to make me human! _

A voice replies back to her, talking directly inside her head.  _ Using magic comes at a price. _ Rika recognizes it as the voice of the Witch.  _ You've attained plenty of happiness as a human. Now, it is time for you to lose yourself and turn into an ugly monster _ . The voice turns to a whisper as it continues,  _ However, if you kill the person you love most, you will be freed of your curse and return to the beast you originally were. _

_ What…? _ Rika shifts her gaze to the love of her life sleeping on the bed. Her body moves by itself as she crawls back to the bed and positions herself on top of him.

“Rika?” V notices her, his face staring back in horror seeing her beast form. “Rika… my love, is that you?”

The Princess only gazes at him, losing the control she has over herself, as her sharp claws reached for his face. His neck. His whole body. The desire to rip him apart comes surging from within her, her blood boiling, her heart pounding. She can hear a distinctive ring inside her ears, which blocks out all the other noise. It was too late to stop her darkness - the  _ beast _ within her,  _ the beast she really is. _

V reaches for her, uttering something she no longer hears. But even in her state, she could read his lips.

_ It’s okay… Rika. It’s okay. _

* * *

 

_ “Prince Jihyun.” The Princess joined him in the balcony. The man smiled, giving her a look. “I mean, V. Can I ask you something?” _

_ He gazed back at the moon. “What is it, Rika?” _

_ “Why do you always stare at the moon with a pained expression?” _

_ “Do I…?” He looked at his bride, a smile on his face. “But didn’t you notice that something changed tonight, love?” _

_ “Yes… you don’t look so sad anymore. Why?” _

_ “Well, Miss Curious, I used to be sad when the sun sets and instead the moon comes. You know how the moon cannot shine by itself, right? So I always wondered why the sun has to lend the moon its light, and it saddens me that otherwise, the moon cannot shine.” _

_ Rika didn’t understand. “So what changed, V?” _

_ He shifted his gaze to her. “Because I met you, my love. You made me understand that it’s the sun’s way of loving the moon, to bathe the moon’s darkness with light, perhaps even hoping that the sun’s love will outshine that darkness.” He cups her face with both hands, staring deep into her green pupils. “I felt the same when I met you. You always seem so gloomy, love, as if an unseen darkness is lingering with you. And that darkness… that darkness attracts my light.” _

_ As he leans on to kiss her, he says one last line, “You are my moon, Rika, and my love will continue to shine for you.” _

* * *

 Tears well up in the Princess’ eyes, blurring her sight, as her claws move beyond her control.

What the maids and guards find inside Prince Jihyun’s room when they barge in the next day shocks the whole kingdom. They had to, as he never came out for both breakfast and lunch, every knock on his door ignored. They find him seated on the edge of the bed, claw marks and dried blood smeared across his eyes, trailing down his cheeks. His wife, Princess Rika, is nowhere to be found, and neither does the Prince send people around to find her. 

He still goes forward his day as usual, staying awake at night for hours to stare at the moon, as he always does. However, his sight continues to deteriorate, and he refuses treatment. After a few months, just as his sight disappears completely, a new painting hangs on the wall of his room; it depicts a beautiful beast with fair skin and long, wavy hair. Mighty wings as black as the night itself expands behind her back, and she bears scarlet red horns on top of her head. 

Some say the beast bears eerie similarities to the lost Princess.


End file.
